Improve your memory skills, follow these four steps

It's not a lack of brain cells that makes us forgetful. Lack of attention, on the other hand, does.

“If you want to remember something, you have to be aware of that. Otherwise, it doesn't stick,” explains Mads Brøbech, who has 20 years of experience in teaching memory techniques.

When people ask him why they can never remember where they park their car, he tends to ask what they are doing when they leave the vehicle.

“They might, for example, be on the phone, struggling with a pram or looking at a shopping list. In any case, they aren't paying attention to where they leave the car. That's why they don't remember,” says Mads Brøbech.

Read and forgotten again

Many of us expect us to remember what we read. But in this case, too, it takes more than just letting your eyes wander over words and numbers.

“If your brain is exposed to a steady stream of information without any attention on your part, you can't expect to remember any of it,” explains Mads Brøbech.

You can, however, if you follow his recommended four steps to a better memory; adding that the steps should be taken one at a time – you can't go straight to step 4.

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Four steps to a better memory

1. Attention
If you have seen or heard something without paying attention to it, it quickly falls into oblivion. Just think about introductions: you've just heard people's names but you immediately forget them. The first step is therefore to pay attention. If your brain is exposed to a flood of information without any attention on your part, you will not be able to proceed to the next step.

You support your attention by being – well, attentive. So remove anything that interferes: your phone, your computer, sounds of notification, any thoughts you have on other things than what's going on right now, and your associations with what you're listening to. So many things steal your attention all the time.

2. Will and choice
Even if you've been paying attention, you can't be sure to remember everything you've experienced. You must therefore exercise your will and decide that you want to remember this or that, for instance the most important points from your manager's presentation. When you do that, your brain will start working on remembering it.

Step 2 is a conscious decision. It sometimes takes a split second. You're thinking: I want to remember that! And then you put it into context and system. It's at step 2 we (un)consciously sort out what's important, relevant, fun. A lot of people make the mistake of believing that everything is equally important, but it's not. And we can't remember all the details. We have to choose what we want to store in our memory before systematising it.

Example: You see a hit-and-run. You WANT to (decision) remember the number plate BX 47 123, because the driver has to be found. And boom: you're at step 3, where you make a system out of some inconsequential numbers and letters in a way that makes sense to you. That could be: BX is close to BZ, so you're thinking of an ex-BZ (Danish word for a squatter) with the hoodie up, who drinks a “47", Carlsberg's Christmas brew. And 1-2-3 comes before 4 (in 47). This is just one of many ways of using your associations to remember a given series of numbers.

3. Systematisation and context
By the time you set out to remember something, your brain may have already developed a system for doing so. Otherwise, you may use different memory techniques to improve your memory.

Taking notes or making mind maps is a familiar method to many. You may also learn to remember things and cues by placing them on a route or in a familiar house that you walk through in your mind. A specific location is easier to use than fictional settings.

Making associations to something you know will help you remember. The thing you want to remember needs to be put into context with existing knowledge in your brain. This will make it easier to retrieve it when you need it.

Example: A teacher couldn't remember the names of his 30 students. In contrast, he knew all Yamaha motorcycle models. In his thoughts, he therefore placed each student on a motorcycle, and then he could easily remember Daniel on the T-Max 560, Sarah on the Ténéré 700, etc.

4. Repetition
The first kiss and exciting travel experiences rarely need repetition to be remembered. But there is no getting round repetitions if you want to keep remembering more "boring" and trivial things.

The more times you go through them, the better you will remember. Think it through at least five times over a period of time, so that you do it immediately, tomorrow, next week, in a month and in four to six months. Put it in the calendar so you don't forget that you have to remember...

Learn all the names from the beginning of the day

The four steps to a better memory are based on the fact that memory is formed when two neurons in the brain connect to each other and form a pattern. The more often you activate a pattern, the stronger is its memory engram.

Mads Brøbech says that he himself takes pride in learning the names of 30 students from the beginning of the day:

“During the introductory round, I categorise them according to people I already know. Gitte is my former boss, Maria is my cousin, etc. If there are 'new' names, I make associations so that Khalida turns into 'like you' and Rozlan becomes 'Russia'.”

Years of practice mean his attention is more or less activated automatically when the roll-call begins.

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AI knowledge is not stored

Most of us have outsourced the job of remembering to calendars and other systems, and thanks to AI, we quickly access piles of knowledge.

So why even make the effort to remember?

“If you acquire knowledge for a purpose, you have to store the knowledge in your memory. “Don't think your memory will improve by using AI. AI output is neither turned into neural connections nor repeated in your brain. You get a lot of systematised knowledge, but you don't store it,” points out Mads Brøbech.